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Beowulf: The Hero's Journey

Decent Essays

In great literature, many heroes accept a challenge and set off on the hero’s journey. In the novel Beowulf, the hero Beowulf faces a tough road of trials. Throughout his journey he accepts each challenge head on and displays many characteristics that defend his title as a hero. He is a great leader, he is brave, and he is selfless and sacrifices himself in an attempt to protect his people.
Beowulf’s departure is the first part of his journey. He announces to everyone that he will take on the challenge of fighting Grendel and when he announced this no one tried to stop him. They all honored him for being the brave warrior that he is and accepting a challenge that many before him had turned down. Many hero’s throughout literature have supernatural aid and Beowulf’s aid is his natural strength. There is no other like him on the earth and this truly shapes him into the strong hero figure he is and gives him the confidence to take on great challenges. When it is finally time for him to set sail with his men to Geatland, Beowulf passes the …show more content…

Beowulf’s road of trials included fighting Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and the dragon. The men that came to fight alongside Beowulf see what they’re up against and want to abandon him. Beowulf knows that Grendel will be a difficult fight but he attacks anyway and actually seems to be doing damage to him. His men see that they actually have a chance of winning and soon start helping him. The leadership that he displays to his men gives them the confidence to fight. No one before him was able to give them that sense of confidence. Beowulf rips Grendel’s arm out of the socket and returns with it to the mead hall as a trophy for everyone to see. The average man would not have been able to defeat Grendel. Grendel had been attacking Heorot for years and Beowulf was the only one brave enough to face him. He returns a hero to all and the king wants to adopt Beowulf for being so

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